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Lot Essay
Between 1797 and 1816, the City of London is recorded as presenting thirty-five swords, mainly accompanied by Freedoms of the City, to senior British and allied naval and military officers for their distinguished service against the French and their allies. Within this august group, nineteen were awarded to British naval officers, twelve to British army officers and four to foreigners. Prior to the award of this sword in 1806, the City had awarded fourteen swords, of which eleven had been given to senior naval officers. Of the nineteen swords awarded to naval officers between 1797 and 1816, eleven were to the value of one hundred guineas, as is this one, and nine of those were small-swords. This sword is the seventh of the nine one hundred-guinea small-swords awarded by the City of London to British naval officers in the nineteen years of the wars with France.
John Ray and James Montague likely trained and worked in the workshop of James Morisset. They succeeded Morisset in his premises in Denmark Street, Soho, in 1800 and maintained the extraordinarily high standard of work in the same type of goods for which Morisset had been known. Their output, especially in the realm of sword hilts and snuffboxes in precious metals and enamels, occasionally set with precious stones, has been the subject of the same research as has the work of Morisset. Ray and Montague registered their joint mark at Goldsmith's Hall in May 1800 and continued in partnership until 1821, by which time the ending of the wars with France had meant that demand for pieces for presentation to martial heroes had come to an end. Ray and Montague are known to have made the mounts for six of the seven one- hundred-guinea smallswords presented by the City to naval officers between 1800, when Ray and Montague took over from Morisset, and 1816, when the last award was made, although a number of different retail jewelers and goldsmiths supplied the finished articles to the City for presentation. The retailers who supplied Cochrane's second sword, described here, joined in partnership in 1800 at 86 Cheapside in the City of London, the partnership lasting until the death of Edward Wigan in 1814.
Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane (1758-1832) saw service in the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic wars, and the war of 1812.
During the war with France in 1804, he was advanced to flag rank, as Rear Admiral of the Blue squadron, and spent the next year in command of the blockade of Ferrel, a port on the north-western tip of Spain that housed a French squadron. In February 1805, Cochrane's squadron chased a French fleet to the Caribbean, where he was appointed Commander-in-Chief on the Leeward Islands station. Having been promoted to Rear Admiral of the White squadron in1805, he was on leave in England when a large French squadron evaded the British blockade and left Brest for the Caribbean on 13th December. Hurrying west across the Atlantic, Cochrane found the British fleet sent in pursuit of the French at St. Kitts on 12th January 1806 and was immediately appointed as second-in-command to Vice-Admiral Sir John Duckworth KB (1748-1817). After several weeks of maneuvering, the two fleets met off the island of St. Domingo on 6th February 1806 and the resulting, hotly contested, action - the last real squadron or fleet action of the Napoleonic Wars - ended in a total defeat for the French, the capture of several ships and prizes and the inflicting of enormous casualties at comparatively little cost to the Royal Navy. The victory off St. Domingo ended any further concerns on the part of Britain about the French capacity to wage a naval war in the Caribbean. As a result of his services on that occasion Cochrane was created a Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath (KB) and presented with the Freedom of the City of London, together with this sword and a gold medal from the King.
Cochrane remained in the Caribbean and in North American waters, being promoted Rear Admiral of the Red squadron in 1808 and commanding the naval element of an expedition to capture the island of Martinique in 1809.
Cochrane formed two Corps of Colonial Marines, made up primarily of escaped slaves. The first corps was based on the island of Marie-Galante and operated from 1808 to 1810. The larger second corps (the first had been disbanded), formed in 1814, was disbanded in 1815, at the conclusion of the War of 1812.
On 1st April 1814, with the war with the United States in its second year, Cochrane was appointed Commander-in-Chief on the North American station and hoisted his flags in HMS Tonnant, that had been captured from the French at the Battle of the Nile.
While based in Chesapeake Bay, he was instrumental in coordinating the joint naval and military attack on Washington, 0.C. in August 1814, in which British soldiers, sailors and Royal Marines caused great devastation, including burning the White House. An attack on Baltimore on 13th September proving less successful, as another in New Orleans on 8th January 1815, fifteen days after the signing of a peace treaty between Britain and the United States of America.
John Ray and James Montague likely trained and worked in the workshop of James Morisset. They succeeded Morisset in his premises in Denmark Street, Soho, in 1800 and maintained the extraordinarily high standard of work in the same type of goods for which Morisset had been known. Their output, especially in the realm of sword hilts and snuffboxes in precious metals and enamels, occasionally set with precious stones, has been the subject of the same research as has the work of Morisset. Ray and Montague registered their joint mark at Goldsmith's Hall in May 1800 and continued in partnership until 1821, by which time the ending of the wars with France had meant that demand for pieces for presentation to martial heroes had come to an end. Ray and Montague are known to have made the mounts for six of the seven one- hundred-guinea smallswords presented by the City to naval officers between 1800, when Ray and Montague took over from Morisset, and 1816, when the last award was made, although a number of different retail jewelers and goldsmiths supplied the finished articles to the City for presentation. The retailers who supplied Cochrane's second sword, described here, joined in partnership in 1800 at 86 Cheapside in the City of London, the partnership lasting until the death of Edward Wigan in 1814.
Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane (1758-1832) saw service in the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic wars, and the war of 1812.
During the war with France in 1804, he was advanced to flag rank, as Rear Admiral of the Blue squadron, and spent the next year in command of the blockade of Ferrel, a port on the north-western tip of Spain that housed a French squadron. In February 1805, Cochrane's squadron chased a French fleet to the Caribbean, where he was appointed Commander-in-Chief on the Leeward Islands station. Having been promoted to Rear Admiral of the White squadron in1805, he was on leave in England when a large French squadron evaded the British blockade and left Brest for the Caribbean on 13th December. Hurrying west across the Atlantic, Cochrane found the British fleet sent in pursuit of the French at St. Kitts on 12th January 1806 and was immediately appointed as second-in-command to Vice-Admiral Sir John Duckworth KB (1748-1817). After several weeks of maneuvering, the two fleets met off the island of St. Domingo on 6th February 1806 and the resulting, hotly contested, action - the last real squadron or fleet action of the Napoleonic Wars - ended in a total defeat for the French, the capture of several ships and prizes and the inflicting of enormous casualties at comparatively little cost to the Royal Navy. The victory off St. Domingo ended any further concerns on the part of Britain about the French capacity to wage a naval war in the Caribbean. As a result of his services on that occasion Cochrane was created a Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath (KB) and presented with the Freedom of the City of London, together with this sword and a gold medal from the King.
Cochrane remained in the Caribbean and in North American waters, being promoted Rear Admiral of the Red squadron in 1808 and commanding the naval element of an expedition to capture the island of Martinique in 1809.
Cochrane formed two Corps of Colonial Marines, made up primarily of escaped slaves. The first corps was based on the island of Marie-Galante and operated from 1808 to 1810. The larger second corps (the first had been disbanded), formed in 1814, was disbanded in 1815, at the conclusion of the War of 1812.
On 1st April 1814, with the war with the United States in its second year, Cochrane was appointed Commander-in-Chief on the North American station and hoisted his flags in HMS Tonnant, that had been captured from the French at the Battle of the Nile.
While based in Chesapeake Bay, he was instrumental in coordinating the joint naval and military attack on Washington, 0.C. in August 1814, in which British soldiers, sailors and Royal Marines caused great devastation, including burning the White House. An attack on Baltimore on 13th September proving less successful, as another in New Orleans on 8th January 1815, fifteen days after the signing of a peace treaty between Britain and the United States of America.